Petition to save Vincent Soubiron Ski school

Dear friends of waterski, we do need your support for Vincent Soubiron’s ski school, aka Vinney, that is going through difficult times in Seysses.

As you probably know, waterski is Vinney’s life and his team won more than 20 World medals, 80 European Medals and +250 national medals and many international records. It’s the home site of Pro skiers such as Sacha Descuns, Ambre Franc, Kate Adriaensen,…

Vincent’s ski school has been established 26 years ago on a former gravel pit in Seysses, near Toulouse (France). Till recently, the relationship with the landlord had always been good and constructive. In 2000, the landlord came with the idea to partially backfill the pit with rubble, which would both increase the value of the land at no cost for him and at the same time improve the quality of the lake and help meet the standards for organizing waterski tournaments. With other words: a true win-win.

Thanks to Vinney’s involvement and sponsorship, the township, although initially against it, eventually authorized the works under the following terms: maintain the waterski school’s activity on the lake and establish a green area. Eight years passed without any flaw and all parties were perfectly happy till early May when Vincent received a phone call from Malet – the compagny carrying out the backfilling works - asking him to cease all activities at once and leave … without notice and without any formal written notification. This was the starting point of daily intimidation till June 28 where things got even worse: Malet started to build a dike IN THE MIDDLE of the lake, obviously preventing any waterskiing. Vincent’s 73 years old father even got almost buried under a truck of rubble. On June 29, the security guard insulted Vincent and threatened to throw stones at him. This is simply not acceptable. We will undertake all possible legal and political actions to defend and safeguard the school but we need you to support us by signing this petition in order that political and legal stakeholders understand what this waterski school represents and what is at stake for waterski in France and beyond. Thank you in advance.